Sermons on Isaiah

Superheroes are huge at the moment. 2700 years ago, a prophet named Isaiah wrote about someone who would come and save the world; but unlike Superman, Batman, and the Flash, who are obviously super, Isaiah’s hero is named The Servant. This ordinary character doesn’t sound impressive, nor like they could save the world. Yet at Easter, we remember this person, this factual person, Jesus.
The greatest outrage of our nation this year has been focused towards the Australian Cricket Team, and their faults and failings. The players broke the rules, and went against the spirit of the game, and have been harshly criticised by people who themselves, have undoubtedly bent or broken rules to their own benefit. No body does the right thing, all the time. No one! This is why we all need the hero of the Servant, of Jesus. We don’t need to earn forgiveness, as God offers it freely through Jesus Christ, and his death on Good Friday.

Kirk wraps up our series on the prophecies of Isaiah, and the character of The Servant. Isaiah 50:4-11 speaks of the Servant being obedient, even to death, and that they are to be obeyed, in the same way that God is to be obeyed. The Servant, who we living so far in the future from these prophecies know to be Jesus, is said to bring a light into dark places. God doesn’t promise to make life easy for Christians, and the Christian faith isn’t one of earning God’s love, but accepting God’s freely given gift. God does promise to love us, though, and be with us in those dark places, and tough life circumstances we might find ourselves in.

Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born, that a figure called the “Servant” would come. In Isaiah 49:1-13, it seems as though this Servant is the nation of Israel; but at the same time, is going to restore Israel. This Servant will also restore the entire Earth, all the nations, and show God’s compassion to everyone. Tim looks at how we as a Church are likewise called to serve the nations beyond our own walls.

Some 700 years before Jesus, a guy named Isaiah wrote about a mysterious person called “The Servant of the Lord”. Tim begins this series looking at the Servant being the one to bring justice to the world. Chapter 42 of Isaiah is applied directly to Jesus in the book of Matthew, referring to Jesus as the Servant who God has chosen, and it is this passage which Tim focuses on in this talk.